Giving Up?

Yesterday, according to the media, was the beginning of Lent. Time to give something up for 40 odd days after which we can all go back to doing whatever it was before Ash Wednesday. Well, I started early. I didn’t have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. In all honesty I forgot and I do love a pancake. More so the savoury ones filled with spinach and ricotta. I make them myself and, without blowing my own trumpet, they’re pretty special. So that’s one sacrifice made, I can sit back and relax. I don’t observe any of the religious calendar to be fair. I’m not a believer but I respect other believers. I prefer the concept of Humanism, that human beings shape their own lives. Simon and I chose a Humanist blessing when we ‘tied the knot’. It was a wonderful experience, we wrote our own service, made readings and exchanged candles. Our friends and family still talk about it now. And I’ve been to three Humanist funerals which have been quite uplifting despite the sad goodbyes.

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.

Mahatma Gandhi

In addition I’m going to cull a few of the e-mails and blogs I’ve signed up to. I don’t get buckets of mail but I’m a bit of a push over when it comes to newsletters and posts about writing. I find myself skimming over them, saving them to Pocket (and then forgetting about them) or deleting them before I’ve even opened them. A bit scary, because what if I miss ‘the next big thing’ about writing? I guess I’ll hear about it somewhere but I don’t need any more distractions right now. So a bit of a clean up is in order, ahem, just procrastination in any other name.